Community Engagement

Traveling Speakers Series 2017/2018

The Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies (GSWS) at Simon Fraser University is once again offering the services of the Traveling Speakers’ Series to the women’s communities in BC and Yukon. This program began in September 1990 and has been a great success. For those of you who have not participated before, the Traveling Speakers’ Series involves a member of the GSWS faculty, associate faculty, Master, or Doctoral student traveling to a community (outside the Lower Mainland) and speaking to a women’s group or community college. If you are interested in learning more please contact Roberta at gswsmgr@sfu.ca.

Traveling Speakers Series 2016/2017

Terrace

April 26, 2017 - noon hour talk and evening workshop

Dr. Tiffany Muller Myrdahl

Title: “Cities Women Need”

Description: What, precisely, is the role of municipal government in facilitating an inclusive community? And, how can a feminism grounded in decolonization, anti-racism, and intersectionality foster an active and practical commitment to social inclusion? These are the questions that will guide the presentation and workshop. Using examples from small and large Canadian municipalities, we will discuss commitments made toward creating and maintaining welcoming and inclusive communities.

Host: Terrace Women’s Resource Centre Society

Fort St. John

Robert Bittner, a PhD student in the Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies program at Simon Fraser University, will give two lectures on October 19, 2016 at 1:15 p.m. and 7 p.m. about identity, issues and topics affecting LGBTQ youth and adults. In the evening session, Bittner will talk about children and youth literature with LGBTQ themes that are good to have in libraries, as well as other non-classroom settings.

The Traveling Speaker Series with Robert Bittner takes place in the atrium at the Fort St. John campus of Northern Lights College. For more information email ckaweesi@nlc.bc.ca

I recently had the opportunity to take part in the Traveling Speakers Series, giving a number of lectures at Northern Lights College in Fort St. John. The first lecture was on the subject of gender, sexuality, and youth culture, and the audience consisted of students in the Women’s and Gender Studies course at the college, a number of individuals from the local Pride Society, and also a number of social workers and a few local teens. There was a lot of great discussion in which I was able to address some concerns from individuals in the community regarding the use of labels, the idea of coming out, and the impact of literature on the experience of identity development among youth. The second lecture was more focused on the evolution of LGBT identities within literature for teens and the possibilities for using literature within libraries and schools. A few teachers and librarians were in attendance among other members of the community.

While I obviously hope that I was able to bring a new perspective to the ongoing conversations around women and gender in the community of Fort St. John, what was really incredible was the opportunity to engage with a whole new community and talk to individuals who are not at all familiar with my own areas of study. I arrived back home invigorated and hopeful, encouraged by the possibilities for my own work as well as the work of others I met with during my visit to Northern BC.

Rob Bittner

North Shore Women's Centre AGM

Dr. Tiffany Muller Myrdahl, GSWS Senior Lecturer and Adjunct Faculty member gave a presentation at the North Shore Women's Centre Annual General Meeting on Wednesday, September 28, 2016. The title of the talk was "The ONgoing Relevance and Resilence of Women's NG0s".

"Dr. Muller Myrdahl gave an inspiring presentation on September 28th, 2016 at the North Shore Women’s Centre’s 2016 Annual General Meeting. Her topic “The Ongoing Relevance and Resilience of Women’s NGOs” was an important one for our organization, particularly during this event as we welcomed several new board members to our team. The presentation received numerous accolades from those who attended. Many called us within days following our event specifically to let us know how much they enjoyed and valued the presentation. Some comments which stood out were: “fascinating work”, “illuminating and rich, new perspective”. We sincerely thank Dr. Muller Myrdahl for sharing her time and expertise with us and must also extend our gratitude to the SFU Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies department for making the Travelling Speakers Series available to us. This work is greatly valuable for our community."